Where Science Meets Society

About the IGB

The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology was founded in 2003 to advance life science research and stimulate bioeconomic development in the state of Illinois. Learn more about our Institute.Learn More About the IGB »

Interdisciplinary Genomic Research

The mission of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology is to advance life science research at the University of Illinois and to stimulate bio-economic development in the state of Illinois, capitalizing on advances in genome science and technology.
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A UNIQUE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The IGB provides learning opportunities for hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students each year, as well as educating the community with workshops, camps, symposia, and special programs and events.
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News

The IGB has provided a solid foundation for future growth in the state of Illinois. Our scientists have generated more than 75 invention disclosures, 35 patent applications, and over a thousand scholarly journal articles since the founding of the Institute.Read More About Our News »

Calendar

IGB is home to a number of scientific conferences, workshops and symposia throughout the year. We also host a speaker series, "Pioneers in Genomic Biology" which showcases world-renowned scientists from institutions around the world.Check Our Calendar »

News

In The News

ChemistryWCBU-89.9 FM (NPR; Peoria, Ill., March 30) -- For a patient with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, known as glioblastoma, the future is bleak. “Without treatment, median survival is 3 months,” says Paul Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry at Illinois. “With treatment with radiation, it’s 12 months.” Hergenrother is working to change the prognosis. Researchers in his lab screened thousands of molecules and discovered one that showed promise in fighting cancer. They called it PAC-1.read entire article

Plant BiologyPhys.Org (Isle of Man, March 26) -- Using high-performance computing and genetic engineering to boost the photosynthetic efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields enough to feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, Illinois researcher Stephen Long says.read entire article

EntomologyThe Oregonian (March 26) -- You've probably heard about bees dying off en masse since 2006, but maybe you don't know what it's all about or why you should care. Without bees, our food supply would crumble, for starters. "This is a really complex issue with no quick and easy solutions," Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum says.read entire article

BiofuelsEthanol Producer Magazine (Austin, Texas, March 19) -- One of life’s strongest bonds has been discovered by a science team researching biofuels. Their find could boost efforts to develop catalysts for biofuel production from non-food waste plants. Renowned computational biologist Klaus Schulten, professor of physics at the U. of I., led the analysis and modeling of the bond, which behaves like a Chinese Finger Trap puzzle.read entire article

Plant BiologyPhys. Org (Isle of Man, March 17) -- A genetic study of papaya sex chromosomes reveals that the hermaphrodite version of the plant, which is of most use to growers, arose as a result of human selection, most likely by the ancient Maya some 4,000 years ago. The study by Illinois plant biology professor Ray Ming, reported in the journal Genome Research, homes in on a region of papaya's male sex chromosome that, the study indicates, gave rise to the hermaphrodite plants.read entire article

Food Science and Human NutritionPhys. Org (Isle of Man, March 16) -- Illinois scientists have engineered a "jailbreaking" yeast that could greatly increase the health benefits of wine while reducing the toxic byproducts that cause your morning-after headache.read entire article

PhysicsPhys. Org (Isle of Man, March 16) -- One of life's strongest bonds has been discovered by a science team researching biofuels with the help of supercomputers. Their find could boost efforts to develop catalysts for biofuel production from non-food waste plants. Renowned computational biologist Klaus Schulten of Illinois led the analysis and modeling of the bond, which behaves like a Chinese Finger Trap puzzle.read entire article

AgriculturePhys. Org (Isle of Man, March 4) -- The fast-growing energy grass miscanthus is the clear winner when comparing the yield and cost of producing ethanol, according to Illinois agricultural economist Madhu Khanna, who co-authored a study with other scientists from the Illinois Energy Biosciences Instititue.read entire article

GeneticsQuanta Magazine (New York, March 4) -- Eight percent of your genome derives from retroviruses that inserted themselves into human sex cells millions of years ago. Right now the koala retrovirus (KoRV) is invading koala genomes, a process that can help us understand our own viral lineage and make decisions about managing this vulnerable species. “We think it will gradually lose its ability to hurt the host,” says Alfred Roca, a geneticist at Illinois.read entire article

ChemistryMedicalxpress.com (Feb. 26) -- A cancer drug first tested in pet dogs begins human trials. The compound was discovered and is being developed based on the hypothesis that most cancers have elevated levels of an enzyme called procaspase-3," says Illinois chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother. "Procaspase-3 is an enzyme that, when turned on, kills cells."read entire article

African American StudiesThe Atlantic (Feb. 3) -- Chicago's experiment in relocating poor African American families to rich white suburbs seems to be a success. So why are so few other cities doing the same? "Unfortunately in our country, more white or integrated areas tend to have more resources, so when race isn’t a factor, I think that some relationships aren’t on the table,” says Ruby Mendenhall, a sociology and African American studies professor at Illinois.read entire article

BioengineeringAAAS (Feb. 2) -- In biomedical engineering, experts see big research opportunities and some funding challenges. The interdisciplinary work necessary to develop biomedical engineering devices holds great potential for collaborative research, but challenges remain in making the technology available for public use. A panel consisting of Gene Robinson, John Rogers, Todd Coleman, and Rashid Bashir spoke of this and more at an event entitled "Visionary Frontiers at the Convergence of Biology, Medicine and Engineering" held in Washington, D.C.read entire article

EntomologyPhys. Org (Isle of Man, Feb. 2) -- Illinois researchers report that trap-jaw ants recognize the unique odor of a fertile queen only if the queen also shares the workers' own chemical cologne - a distinctive blend of dozens of smelly, waxy compounds that coat the ants' bodies from head to tarsus.read entire article

FellowshipsNCSA (Jan. 30) -- The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the CompGen Initiative have selected University of Illinois graduate students Arjun Athreya and Marcelo Cardoso dos Reis Melo as the spring 2015 NCSA-CompGen Fellows.read entire article

CybersecurityNews Bureau (Jan. 7) -- Jay P. Kesan, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Research Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law, speaks about the cybersecurity implications of the theft of confidential information from Sony Pictures.read entire article

PsychologyNew York Times (Dec. 29) -- Brent Roberts, a psychology professor at Illinois, has found that changes in personality can be linked to changes in health. “That sets up an interesting possibility,” he says. If personality can be altered, “then it could be a target of intervention.”read entire article

NanoparticlesNews Bureau (Dec. 23) -- Stroke victims could have more time to seek treatment that could reduce harmful effects on the brain, thanks to tiny blobs of gelatin that could deliver the medication to the brain noninvasively.read entire article

HealthInside Science (Hyattsville, Md., Dec. 17) -- Whatever you do with your smartphone, chances are at some point you are walking around with it. According to scientists, your walk and the way you move say a lot about your health. “People with chronic illness, or people that are older, don’t move like young, vigorous, healthy people do,” says Bruce Schatz, a professor of medical information science at Illinois.read entire article

Electrical And Computer EngineeringAZoNano (Warriewood, New South Wales, Nov. 12) -- Tiny, thin microtubes could provide a scaffold for neuron cultures to grow so that Illinois and University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers can study neural networks and their growth and repair. The microtubes will provide insights into treatment for degenerative neurological conditions and restoring nerve connections after injury.read entire article

Materials Science and EngineeringNews-Medical.net (Sydney, Nov. 6) -- Illinois scientist Jianjun Cheng and his colleagues have taken the first steps towards developing a so-called "smart bomb" to attack the most common and deadly form of childhood cancer — called B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).read entire article

Crop SciencesEthanol Producer Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., Oct. 30) -- Two Illinois crop sciences researchers interested in improving plant feedstocks for bioenergy production were selected to receive funding by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a larger Obama administration effort to diversify the nation’s energy portfolio and accelerate development of new clean energy.read entire article

NASA Astrobiology InstituteDaily Illini (Champaign, Oct. 16) -- The University of Illinois has teamed together with 14 other universities, research laboratories and NASA centers participating in the NASA Astrobiology Institute, to study the diversity and evolution of life on Earth.read entire article

EntomologyThe Washington Post (Oct. 2) -- When a rival colony moves in next door, big-headed ants start making bigger babies. Big-headed ants, as their name implies, have some pretty serious noggins -- or their soldier ants do, anyway. According to a new Illinois study, the soldier ants swell in size when nearby ants prove to be worthy opponents.read entire article

NeuroscienceThe New Yorker (Oct. 2) -- The Vietnam Head Injury Study, as it is now known, has allowed researchers to track the long-term consequences of head injuries, identify the factors that influence recovery, and even map the cognitive architecture of the brain. “Having a good or bad variant of a gene can predispose an individual to a better or worse outcome,” says professor Aron Barbey, who joined the project in 2009. Barbey now directs the Decision Neuroscience Laboratory at Illinois.read entire article

EvolutionPhys . org (Isle of Man, Sept. 25) -- Hoping to understand how the tremendous diversity of life on Earth evolved even as irreversible species and habitat loss rapidly proceeds, a research group of bat experts -- including Illinois professor of animal biology Karen Sears -- has received a five-year, $1.91 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study how bats sense their environment and other individuals, including potential mates, to ensure survival and reproduction.read entire article

Plant BiologyThe New York Times (Sept. 22) -- Led by plant biology Professor Andrew Leakey and Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, a scientist with the United States Agriculture Department, researchers at the University of Illinois have created an unusual blend of climate science, agriculture and modern genetics to study possible routes to a more resilient food supply.read entire article

AgriculturePhys . org (Isle of Man, Sept. 18) -- Crops with cyanobacteria’s faster carbon fixation would produce more, according to a computer modeling study by Justin McGrath and Stephen Long at the U. of I. Producing more crops on finite arable land is a necessity, as the world’s population is projected to pass nine billion by 2050.read entire article

AnthropologyThe Huffington Post (Sept. 16) -- Organized by researchers and advocates, the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics program aims to teach genomics concepts, equip participants with tools to help their communities make informed decisions about genetic research, and provide them with mentorship opportunities and networking with other Native American researchers and students. “A primary goal of SING is to facilitate the next generation of Native American researchers who can use genomics as a tool to address questions of interest to their community without having to rely on outsiders,” says Professor Ripan S. Malhi of Illinois.read entire article

GenomicssociogenomicsRCN . com (Sept. 6) – Duane Jackson of Morehouse College and Gene Robinson, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, are developing a proposal to establish a new undergraduate summer program, termed the Illinois-Morehouse Summer Genomics Institute (IMSGI). This partnership between Morehouse College and the IGB would establish a week-long summer institute that introduces students to the world of genomic research.read entire article

LitigationWashington Examiner (Washington, DC, Sept. 4) -- According to a recent study on patent litigation, the number of U.S. patent cases filed increased in 2013. But a law professor argues that those numbers are misleading. “This suggests some sort of explosion going on, and there isn’t,” says Jay Kesan, who directs the Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the Illinois College of Law.read entire article

CyberattacksNews Bureau (Aug. 26) – Cyberattacks loom as an increasingly dire threat to privacy, national security and the global economy, and the best way to blunt their impact may be a public-private partnership between government and business, researchers say. But the time to act is now, rather than in the wake of a crisis, says Jay Kesan, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Research Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law..read entire article

Honey BeesPittsburgh Tribune-Review (Aug. 22) – Nearly a decade into a honey bee crisis, the idea was inevitable – a robotic bee to pollinate crops. The challenges are vast, says May Berenbaum, head of the Illinois entomology department and a honey bee expert who is not involved in the research. “It is a pretty sweeping idea. But who ever thought Wilbur and Orville would get off the ground? We really need to do something about delivery of pollination services that's in line with the 21st century,” she says.read entire article

Genome Diversityplosgenetics . org (Aug. 7) -- Anthopologist Ripan Malhi and colleagues published the paper "Patterns of Admixture and Population Structure in Native Populations of Northwest North America." From the author summary: We collaborated with six indigenous communities in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska to generate and analyze genome-wide data for over 100 individuals. We then combined this dataset with existing data from populations worldwide, performing an investigation of the genetic structure of indigenous populations of the Pacific Northwest both locally and in relation to continental and worldwide geographic scales. On a regional scale, we identified differences between coastal and interior populations that are likely due to differences both in pre- and post-European contact histories. On a continental scale, we identified differences in genetic structure between populations in the Pacific Northwest and Central and South America, reflecting both differences prior to European contact as well as different post-contact histories of admixture. This study is among the first to analyze genome-wide diversity among Indigenous North American populations, and it provides a comparative framework for understanding the effects of European colonization on indigenous communities throughout the Americas.read entire article

EnergyPhys . org (Aug. 7) -- If the hottest new plant grown as a biofuel crop is approved based solely on its greenhouse gas emission profile, its potential as the next invasive species may not be discovered until it’s too late. Lauren Quinn, an invasive plant ecologist at U of I’s Energy Biosciences Institute and other researchers at Illinois have developed both a set of regulatory definitions and provisions, and a list of 49 low-risk biofuel plants from which growers can choose.read entire article

Cancer CellsMedical Xpress (Isle of Man, Aug. 7) -- Cancer cells that break away from tumors to go looking for a new home may prefer to settle into a soft bed, according to new findings from Illinois researchers led by Ning Wang, professor of mechanical science and engineering.read entire article

Entomologyio9 (Aug. 6) -- Illinois entolomology professor May Berenbaum answers questions ranging from whether having a single beehive will help prevent bee declines to honey bee population and honey availability.read entire article

AgricultureFarmers’ Advance (Camden, Mich., Aug. 6) -- An Illinois plant pathologist is reporting that head scab of wheat (Fusarium head blight) is now showing up in portions of southern Illinois. In many cases, incidence of the disease is moderate to high (over 50 percent of the heads affected), says Carl Bradley, a professor of crop sciences. Affected wheat heads will appear “bleached” in color.read entire article

Photosynthesisoryza . com (August 4) -- Yu Tanaka, a visiting professor from Kyoto University, is investigating on how to radically improve the productivity of staple food crops globally and achieve new innovations in rice production with Prof. Steve Long, team leader at University of Illinois of the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project (a $25 million five-year project from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).read entire article

Science 2034science2034 . org (August 4) -- Professor Gene Robinson, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has an entry on the newly launched Science 2034 website entitled "Help for People With Mental Illness." Science 2034 is an initiative by The Science Coalition to mark their 20th anniversary by looking forward 20 years and focusing on the possibilities of the future.read entire article

Departments of Agriculture and Energy Announce Projects csrees . usda . gov (Washington, July 30) -- Professors of Crop Sciences Patrick Brown and Erik Sacks are embarking on new research efforts to improve biofuel production. Projects proposed by Brown and Sacks were two of just 10 that were awarded funding this July by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The USDA and DOE awarded a total of $12.6 million in research grants to promote the development of better plant feedstocks. Sacks and colleagues, including Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences Steve Long, will use field trials and DNA sequencing to identify and characterize genetic markers associated with hardiness and higher productivity in the biofuel crop Miscanthus. Brown and a collaborator will perform similar investigations in another promising biofuel crop, sorghum.read entire article

EntomologyLive Science (New York City, July 28) -- A municipal worker in Wichita Falls, Texas, who got stung by an estimated 1,000 bees while mowing a park lawn last week was in stable condition. Africanized honey bees, or “killer bees,” have been in the United States since about 1990, according to May Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the U. of I. But despite their dramatic nickname, these insects aren’t that deadly.read entire article

Emergence of Life MOOCscoop . co (July 17) -- Susan Mazur interviews Bruce Fouke, Professor of Geology and lead instructor for the Coursera Emergence of Life class. Fourteen thousand students from one-hundred-thirty countries have signed up for the eight-week course highlighting the entire history of life on Earth. UIUC's Institute for Universal Biology, Institute for Genomic Biology, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have structured it around the teachings of the late Carl Woese with contributions from other distinguished names in science, among them, Nigel Goldenfeld, Michael Russell, and Elbert Branscomb.read entire article

EvolutionNational Geographic (July 16) -- Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, a bioinformatics specialist at Illinois, traced the evolutionary history of proteins found in several giant viruses in a 2012 study in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. His work shows that these viruses “represent a form of life that either predated or coexisted with the last universal common ancestor,” the most recent organism from which all other organisms on Earth are descended.read entire article

Highly Cited ResearchersThomas Reuters (July 3) -- Stephen Long, Professor of of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences, was included on the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2014, from online searchable database highlycited.com. According to the site, the list “represents some of the world’s leading scientific minds.” More than 3,000 researchers are included on the list, earning the distinction by “writing the greatest numbers of reports officially designated by Essential Science Indicators as Highly Cited Papers – ranking among the top 1 percent most cited for their subject field and year of publication, earning them the mark of exceptional impact.”read entire article

Bioengineeringbioengineering . illinois . edu (July 3) -- Assistant Prof. Sua Myong and a multi-institutional research team are developing a better understanding about the aging process of cells that could lead to more effective cancer drugs and delivery methods. Since most cancer cells can suppress their aging with the enzyme telomerase, if that specific molecular process can be unlocked, it could allow targeted delivery of cancer drugs. Myong's team also is developing ways of measuring telomerase.read entire article

Bio-BotsForbes (July 2) -- Engineers from the bioengineering department at Illinois have combined muscle cells with electrical pulses to move and control a tiny 3-D printed robot. Engineers hope these bio-bots can be used to pave the way to a new generation of biological machines for use in energy, environment or medical environments.read entire article

NCSA FellowshipsNCSA (July 1) -- Nine researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been selected to receive fellowships with research support that will enable them to pursue collaborative projects with the researchers and computer technology experts at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), including three from IGB: Matthew Hudson, associate professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics; Iwona Jasiuk, professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering; and David LeBauer, research scientist.read entire article

Social Systems“PBS NewsHour” (June 6) -- Queen bees have no authority. Bee colonies are complex social systems, but they work together without a leader, says U. of I. entomology professor Gene Robinson, who is the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology. So how do they decide who does what if no one is in charge? Robinson and colleagues Harry Dankowicz, a mechanical engineering professor at Illinois, and Whitney Tabor, a psychologist from the University of Connecticut, are studying asynchronous communication to understand how humans and bees work together without direct orders – or without words.read entire article

EntomologyMedill Reports (Evanston, Ill., June 4) -- U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum has dedicated her life to insects, which she says are less appreciated than most other animals.read entire article

Arthropod VenomThe Week (New York City, June 3) -- “The thing about arthropod stings that makes them so scary is not just that they hurt – it’s that they’re actually designed to hurt,” says U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum. “Arthropod venom is a fiendish mixture of pharmacologically active substances that for the most part serve no function in the life of the organism producing them other than to inflict pain on other organisms.”read entire article

Stem CellsScience Codex (San Jose, Calif., May 30) -- The gap between stem cell research and regenerative medicine just became a lot narrower, thanks to a new technique that coaxes stem cells, with potential to become any tissue type, to take the first step to specialization. It is the first time this critical step has been demonstrated in a laboratory. U. of I. researchers, leb by Ning Wang, in collaboration with scientists at Notre Dame University and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, published their results in the journal Nature Communications.read entire article

InsectsChicago Reader (May 29) -- May Berenbaum, a professor of entomology at the U. of I., believes insects are useful to us in ways our minds can’t comprehend yet.read entire article

SoybeanVoice of America (Washington, D.C., May 20) -- According to the United Nations, the world’s population will increase by 34 percent by 2050. A recent study involving soybeans, one of the major food crops and sources of protein, may be one step in helping solve what is expected to be a global food crisis though the power of computers. The next step is to take the computer’s model plant and test it in the field by artificial manipulation, says U. of I. plant biology professor Stephen Long.read entire article

BiofuelVoice of America (Washington, D.C., May 19) -- Several companies plan to turn garbage – and in other cases, corn stalks and wheat straw – into biofuel ethanol that can power vehicles. U. of I. consumer and agricultural economics professor Madhu Khanna says scientists know how to make cellulosic ethanol in the lab but, “the main problem is doing that in a continuous way, cost effectively on a large scale.”read entire article

BeesThe Washington Post (from The Associated Press, May 15) -- Nearly a quarter of American honeybee colonies died this winter – a loss that’s not quite as bad as recent years, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture survey of beekeepers says. “It’s encouraging that if anything it’s not a steady downward trend,” says U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum.read entire article

Honey BeesNational Geographic (May 15) -- Despite brutal weather in much of the nation, the die-off of honey bees over the winter of 2013-2014 was significantly lower than the average annual losses recorded over the previous seven winters, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “This year’s survey results, while encouraging, do not provide much comfort because it is not known why the bees seemed to do better this past winter than previous winters,” says Gene Robinson, the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois. “We can’t rest until we really understand the factors that drive differences in losses.”read entire article

AnthropologySmithsonian (May 15) -- DNA from a 12,000-year-old skeleton of a teenage girl has helped to answer the question: Who were the first Americans? “We were able to identify her genetic lineage with high certainty,” says Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at Illinois. Malhi’s lab was one of three that analyzed the girl’s mtDNA; all three analyses yielded the same results. “This shows that living Native Americans and these ancient remains of the girl we analyzed all came from the same source population during the initial peopling of the Americas.”read entire article

EntomologyThe New York Times (May 11) -- U. of I. animal biology professor Alison M. Bell says recent experiments with spiders neatly illustrate the mix of plasticity and predilection that underlies personality. “I think it’s such an appealing idea that social interactions could cause social niches, and it resonates with our own experience as humans,” she says. “When you go into a group, your behavior changes depending on the nature of that group, but it can only change so far.”read entire article

C02 ConsequencesReuters (May 7) -- Grains, legumes and other crops that provide a large percentage of the world with most of their dietary zinc and iron will have dramatically reduced concentrations of those nutrients by 2050 because of rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study from Andrew Leakey, a professor of plant biology at Illinois, and colleagues at Harvard.read entire article

Cellphone Monitorillinois . edu (May 7) -- By simply carrying around their cellphones, patients who suffer from chronic disease could soon have an accurate health monitor that warns their doctors when their symptoms worsen. Unlike apps that merely count steps, GaitTrack, an app developed by researchers at the University of Illinois including professor of computer science Bruce Shatz, uses eight motion parameters to perform a detailed analysis of a person's gait, or walking pattern, which can tell physicians much about the patient's cardiopulmonary, muscular and neurological health.read entire articlevideo

CropsNational Geographic (May 7) -- Stephen Long, Stephen Long, a U. of I. plant biology and Institute for Genomic Biology professor, talks about balancing changes in yield against changes in the nutritional value of crops as part of the "Future of Food" series.read entire article

Honey BeesQuanta Magazine (New York City, May 7) -- Although honey bees are known for their complex cooperative societies, the vast majority of bee species are solitary creatures. Few can adopt either lifestyle, living alone or as part of a community as circumstances dictate. “What does it take to make a social bee?” asks Gene Robinson, IGB Director and professor of entomology.read entire article

Cellphone Health MonitorMedical Xpress (Douglas, Isle of Man, May 7) -- By simply carrying around their cellphones, patients who suffer from chronic disease could soon have an accurate health monitor that warns their doctors when their symptoms worsen. GaitTrack, an app developed by researchers at the U. of I., turns a smartphone into a sophisticated medical device.read entire article

Global WarmingPacific Standard Magazine (May 1) -- Plant biologist Stephen Long with colleagues have used computer models to imagine a world where crops are specially bred to reflect away more light and heat, without compromising productivity.read entire article

Carl Woese“NOVA Next” (April 30) -- An appreciation of former U. of I. microbiology professor Carl Woese. “Woese is to biology what Einstein is to physics,” says Norman Pace, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Woese, 84, died Dec. 30, 2012, of complications from pancreatic cancer.read entire article

SoybeanClarksville Online (Clarksville, Tenn., April 16) -- A new study led by Illinois researchers shows that soybean plants can be redesigned to increase crop yields while requiring less water and helping to offset greenhouse gas warming.read entire article

NutritionMedical Xpress (Douglas, Isle of Man, April 14) -- A study that began with messy diapers is helping scientists understand how nutrition helps babies grow into healthy children, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research nutritionist Rober Chapkin. He credited the collaboration of researchers as being able to accomplish the work – including Sharon Donovan, who works with infant nutrition at the U. of I.read entire article

Drug DeliveryChemistry World (Royal Society of Chemistry; London, April 7) -- Recent research, led by Brian Cunningham, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois, has produced biomedical tubing that uses surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to monitor the contents and concentrations of drugs within a patient’s intravenous line.read entire article

SoybeansPhys . Org (Douglas, Isle of Man, April 3) -- Crops that produce more while using less water seem like a dream for a world with a burgeoning population and already strained food and water resources. This dream is coming closer to reality for U. of I. researchers who have developed a new computer model that can help plant scientists breed better soybean crops.read entire article

Website LaunchBioenergy Connection, the Energy Biosciences Institute’s magazine forum for discussion of issues relevant to the future of the field, has launched a new website at www.bioenergyconnection.org.

BiologySmithsonian Magazine (March 27) -- An international team of researchers has built a yeast chromosome and integrated it into a living yeast cell. Their work marks a significant advance in the field of synthetic biology – and a cautious step toward the ability to create designer genomes for plants and animals. “This work reports the first designer eukaryotic chromosome that has been synthesized from scratch, which is an important step toward the construction of a designer eukaryotic genome,” says Huimin Zhao, a professor of biomolecular engineering at Illinois.read entire article

Entomology Smithsonian Magazine (March 24) -- May Berenbaum, the head of the department of entomology at Illinois, explains where the science goes wrong in seven films featuring arthropod antagonists.read entire article

Anthropology WAMC-FM (90.3) (NPR; Albany, N.Y., March 21) -- Advances in biotechnologies have been vital in the analysis of the DNA of the first peoples of America. Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at Illinois, discusses both the importance and the difficulty of this type of research.read entire article

Sugarcane Farmers’ Advance (Camden, Mich., March 19) -- A team led by U. of I. researchers reports that it can increase sugarcane’s geographic range, increase its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent, and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production. These are only the first steps in a bigger initiative that will turn sugarcane and sorghum – two of the most productive crop plants known – into even more productive, oil-generating plants. “Biodiesel is attractive because, for example, with soybean, once you’ve pressed the oil out it’s fairly easy to convert it to diesel,” says Stephen P. Long, a U. of I. plant biology researcher and the leader of the initiative. “You could do it in your kitchen.”read entire article

Alternate Fuel Biomass Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., Feb. 28) -- A new study led by a researcher from the University of Georgia has determined that the greenhouse gas intensity of a unit of electricity generated in the United Kingdom using imported wood pellets is at least 50 percent lower than the greenhouse gas intensity of grid electricity derived from fossil fuels. U. of I. agricultural and consumer economics professor Madhu Khanna contributed to the study.read entire article

Bioenergy Crops Industry Phys Org (Douglas, Isle of Man, Feb. 28) -- The viability of the bioenergy crops industry could be strengthened by regulatory efforts to address nonpoint source pollution from agricultural sources. That, in turn, means that the industry should be strategic in developing metrics that measure the ability to enact positive changes in agricultural landscapes, particularly through second-generation perennial crops, according to a paper by Jody Endres, a professor of bioenergy, environmental and natural resources law at Illinois.read entire article

EntomologyThe Journal News (White Plains, N.Y., March 3) -- Researchers are suggesting that the high-fructose corn syrup commercial beekeepers have been feeding their bees for decades may be eroding the bees’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to toxins and colony collapse disorder. A team of entomologists from the U. of I. outlines their research and findings in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.read entire article

Chemistry Health Canal (Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 26) -- U. of I. researchers led by chemistry professor Wilfred van der Donk, in collaboration with an international team, have identified a previously unknown role of an amino acid in catalyzing enzyme reactions. The discovery could lead to the design of new proteins with bioengineering and medical applications.read entire article

EntomologyThe Washington Post (Feb. 19) -- Wild bumblebees worldwide are in trouble, probably contracting deadly diseases from their commercialized honey bee cousins, a new study shows. It shows that “the spillover for bees is turning into boil-over,” says May Berenbaum, a U. of I. entomology professor who was not involved in the study.read entire article

AnthropologyUSA Today (Feb. 12) -- Scientists have analyzed the DNA of a boy buried in Montana more than 12,000 years ago, shedding light on the contentious subject of who peopled the New World. The discovery “puts the final nail in the coffin” for the idea that the ancestors of Native Americans may have crossed to the New World from Europe, says study author Ripan Malhi, an anthropologist at Illinois.read entire article

Cellular ResearchPhys . Org (Douglas, Isle of Man, Feb. 12) -- Ribosomes, the cellular machines that build proteins, are themselves made up of dozens of proteins and a few looping strands of RNA. A new study, reported in the journal Nature, offers new clues about how the ribosome, the master assembler of proteins, also assembles itself. “The ribosome has more than 50 different parts – it has the complexity of a sewing machine in terms of the number of parts,” said University of Illinois physics professor Taekjip Ha, who led the research with U. of I. chemistry professor Zaida Luthey-Schulten and Johns Hopkins University biophysics professor Sarah Woodson. “A sewing machine assembles other things but it cannot assemble itself if you have the parts lying around,” Ha said. “The ribosome, however, can do that. It’s quite amazing.”read entire article

Agricultural ResearchOffice of International Programs (Champaign, IL, Feb. 5) -- Two University of Illinois alumnae spoke as representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation during a special seminar sponsored by the Institute for Genomic Biology.read entire article

Materials ScienceScience 360 (Washington, D.C., Feb. 5) -- Thanks to new dynamic materials, removable paint and self-healing plastics soon could be household products. The research team was led by U. of I. materials science and engineering professor Jianjun Cheng.read entire article

Intellectual PropertyThe New York Times (Feb. 4) -- The case of the missing corn seeds first broke in May 2011 when a manager at a DuPont research farm in east-central Iowa noticed a man on his knees, digging up the field. After a year of FBI surveillance, the man digging was arrested last December and indicted with five other Chinese citizens on charges of stealing trade secrets in what the authorities and agricultural experts have called an unusual and brazen scheme to undercut expensive, time-consuming research. “These are quite brazen facts,” said Jay P. Kesan, a professor at the U. of I. who specializes in intellectual property and technology law. “What makes this different, I guess, is really the extent to which these entities seem to have gone to try to get at these trade secrets.”read entire article

EntomologyUSA Today (from The Associated Press, Jan. 28) -- Vermont beekeepers face mite infestations, extreme temperature swings and the possibility of colony collapse. Last fall, a new threat emerged: zombie bees. A fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to the bee and injects its eggs, which grow inside the bee. U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum says, “We’re getting every conceivable kind of plague.” Given the way bee populations have become so homogenized and how they are shipped cross country to aid in pollenating, the first Eastern infection of the zombie fly makes sense, Berenbaum says. “It’s not surprising; it’s certainly not good news,” she says. “There are so many pathogens and parasites that we’re aware of that are afflicting bees.”read entire article

War ElephantsYahoo! News (Jan. 22) -- U. of I. research is cited regarding the types of war elephants used in a battle in Egypt in 217 B.C.read entire article

HistorySmithsonian Magazine (Jan. 13) -- U. of I. research is cited regarding the types of war elephants used in a battle in Egypt in 217 B.C.read entire article

DNAPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Jan. 9) -- Through DNA analysis, U. of I. researchers have disproved years of rumors and hearsay surrounding the ancient Battle of Raphia, the only known battle between Asian and African elephants.read entire article

EngineeringDVICE (New York City, Jan. 8) -- Scientists at Illinois and Daktari Diagnostics have teamed to create a business-card sized biochip that can not only scan for HIV, but also give accurate T-cell counts. Once in wide use, the reader would cost less than $1,000 and each test would run less than $10, according to project lead Rashid Bashir, a U. of I. professor of electrical and computer engineering.read entire article

EntomologyLive Science (New York City, Dec. 30) -- Scientists in Germany have discovered a caterpillar that can use nicotine to ward off wolf spiders. The researchers found a gene in hornworm caterpillars that allows them to puff nicotine out through their spiracles (tiny holes in their sides), from the tobacco they consume, as a warning to their would-be predators. Researchers called this tactic "defensive halitosis." "A very intriguing aspect of this study is the really state-of-the-art methodology that was used to determine the fate of nicotine," says May Berenbaum, a professor and head of the department of entomology at Illinois, who edited the study for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.read entire article

BiofuelsEthanol Producer Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., Dec. 26) -- Illinois researchers have reported results from a decade of field trials with miscanthus, the first plots to be planted in the U.S. The average annual yield of miscanthus grown in seven Illinois locations over a period of eight to 10 years was 10.5 tons per acre, compared with 4.5 tons per acres for switchgrass grown in the side-by-side trials. “If cellulosic comes on stream, these yields would be competitive with corn on poor land,” says Stephen Long, a U. of I. plant biology and Institute for Genomic Biology professor.read entire article

MicrobesScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., Dec. 18) -- Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes to eke out a living in deep sandstone formations that also happen to be useful for hydrocarbon extraction and carbon sequestration, U. of I. researchers report in a new study.read entire article

Biosensorece . illinois . edu (Urbana, Illinois, Dec. 5) -- Professor Brian Cunningham has received NIH funding for the development of biosensors for early-stage cancer detection. The biosensor utilizes a photonic crystal to detect biomarkers and antibodies in droplet-sized blood samples. With the new grant funding, the team will develop a device that automates this process, doing everything from blood filtration to sample analysis.read entire article

Animal Biology The Scientist (Midland, Ontario, Dec. 5) -- All animal personality scientists grapple with how to reduce the human bias embedded in their experiments. “Trying to eliminate research bias is what this field is devoted to,” says U. of I. animal biology professor Alison Bell.read entire article

Biofuels Phys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Dec. 4) -- The first long-term U.S. field trials of Miscanthus x giganteus, a towering perennial grass used in bioenergy production, reveal that its exceptional yields, though reduced somewhat after five years of growth, are still more than twice those of switchgrass, another perennial grass used as a bioenergy feedstock, says U. of I. plant biology and Institute for Genomic Biology professor Stephen P. Long.read entire article

Engineering Medical Daily (New York City, Dec. 4) -- The holy grail for AIDS health workers would be a handheld HIV detector. U. of I. researchers have taken a major step toward achieving this goal by developing a microchip that can diagnosis the virus with the same efficiency and accuracy as sophisticated hospital equipment. Such a device could “eliminate the barriers that currently prevent access to 69 percent of HIV-infected people in resource-limited settings like Sub-Saharan Africa,” write the researchers, who were led by Rashid Bashir, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois.read entire article

Law Western Australia Today (Perth, Nov. 28) -- It might be easy to click “I agree” on the bottom of endless software end user license agreements (EULAs) without a second thought, but when it comes to putting one’s data on the cloud the one-size-fits-all approach needs to be overhauled, according to U. of I. law professor Jay Kesan. He says people need to be better informed about what happens to their data when they accept terms and conditions.read entire article

Synthetic Biology Barrington Courier-Review (Illinois, Nov. 26) -- Ashley Moy, a sophomore at the U. of I., along with a research team, created a unique gelatin capsule to reduce levels of the harmful substance L-carnitine, which promotes plaque buildup in the arteries and can eventually lead to cardiovascular disease. Recently, Moy and her teammates won the Best Health and Medicine Project award from the 2013 International Genetically Engineered Machine “world jamboree” contest, an international synthetic biology competition.read entire article

CompGenThe Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, D.C., Nov. 25) -- After 25 years of breakthroughs and $14-billion in federal support, the revolution in genomics is now firmly in the hands of the computer geeks. An elite group of some of the world’s top research universities and corporations, pulled together by the National Science Foundation, is now working to figure out how to grapple with the huge amount of DNA and genomic data that’s being produced. The coalition, called CompGen, includes the U. of I., IBM, Intel, and Microsoft, as well as several other academic leaders in computing and genomics, such as the Baylor College of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis.read entire article

BiofuelsPacific Standard (Santa Barbara, Calif., Nov. 20) -- Should invasive plants be made into fuel? “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t continue to look at ethanol conversion processes eventually,” says U. of I. postdoctoral research associate Lauren D. Quinn, who is affiliated with the Institute for Genomic Biology. “I’m just saying that right now, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of economic sense.”read entire article

AnthropologyPopular Archaeology (Nov. 18) -- U. of I. anthropology professor Ripan Malhi is analyzing DNA to tell the story of how and when humans first arrived in the Americas, and then what happened to them afterward. Through study sites in British Columbia, California, Guatemala, Mexico and Illinois, he hopes to help find long-sought answers to the big, debated questions addressing the who, when, and where of the first Americans and the dynamics of their spread and activity across the Americas.read entire article

New Facultynews-gazette . com (Champaign, IL, Nov. 13) -- After a series of visits to the campus, the University of Illinois and Institute for Genomic Biology has landed a package deal: two recruits out of Detroit who have committed to join the campus by fall 2014.read entire article

Sustainabilityillinois . edu (Urbana, IL, Nov. 12) -- University of Illinois plant biology professor Evan DeLucia, the director of the Center for a Sustainable Environment and an expert on how land use changes influence greenhouse gas emissions, speaks about the pros and cons of producing biofuels in A Minute With .....read entire article

Healthcaremed . illinois . edu (Chicago, IL, Nov. 5) -- Dr. Bruce Schatz has been working on a potential solution to excessive health care costs: post-procedure monitoring technology with the potential to save more than $17 billion per year by continuously assessing patient risk to prevent rehospitalization.read entire article

iGEMbioengineering . illinois . edu (Urbana, IL, Nov. 5) -- The 2013 Illinois International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team recently competed in the international jamboree at MIT and was awarded the Best Health and Medicine Project in the undergraduate division.read entire article

MicrobiologyGreat Falls Tribune (Montana, Oct. 30) -- The National Science Foundation recently awarded a five-year, $2 million grant for a collaborative study led by a Montana State University microbiologist to explore the role of viruses in shaping ecosystems in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. The multi-institutional study will include U. of I. microbiology professor Rachel Whitaker.read entire article

Art and ScienceIndustry Today (Coventry, England, Oct. 30) -- An art exhibition at Chicago’s Midway Airport features images created by using microscopy equipment by ZEISS. Researchers from the Institute for Genomic Biology Core Facilities, affiliated with the U. of I., used state-of-the-art microscopes for pioneering research to capture images that address significant problems facing humanity related to health, agriculture, energy and the environment.read entire article

AdvisoryWashington, D.C., Oct. 24 -- As a result of the work done with his group in the Energy Biosciences Institute, Professor of Law Jay Kesan has been invited to be a part of the Advisory Group at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The group will focus on developing strategies and recommendations for Congress on how to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Kesan will participate directly in the reform debate and engage with concerned stakeholders about the future shape of the RFS.

MicroscopyAzom . com (Warriewood, Australia, Oct. 24) -- Researchers from the Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois are using state-of-the-art microscopes for pioneering research to capture images that address significant problems facing humanity related to health, agriculture, energy and the environment.read entire article

Renewable Fuel StandardPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Oct. 15) -- Congress should minimally modify – and not, as petroleum-related interests have increasingly lobbied for, repeal – the Renewable Fuel Standard, the most comprehensive renewable energy policy in the U.S., according to a new paper from U. of I. law professor Jay P. Kesan and Timothy A. Slating, a regulatory associate with the Energy Biosciences Institute.read entire article

InvestitureChemical & Biomolecular Engineering (Oct. 8) -- Professor and Department Head Paul J.A. Kenis of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Illinois was invested as the William G. and Janet H. Lycan Professor in the School of Chemical Sciences during an investiture ceremony on September 25, 2013 at the Spurlock Museum.read entire article

Plant BiologyPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Oct. 7) -- Researchers have developed a new quantitative – rather than qualitative – method of identifying pollen grains that is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Luke Mander, a former postdoctoral researcher in the lab of U. of I. professor of plant biology Surangi Punyasena, led a team of researchers in the development of a method of identifying pollen grains through scanning electron microscopy and surface analysis.read entire article

NanotechnologyToday's Medical Developments (Richfield, Ohio, Sept. 30) -- A new optical device developed by a team of electrical and computer engineering students at the U. of I., led by Brian T. Cunningham, the interim director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, can identify the contents of the fluid in an intravenous line in real-time, offering a promising way to improve the safety of IV drug delivery.read entire article

GenomicsEthanol Producer Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., Sept. 27) -- Although sorghum lines underwent adaptation to be grown in temperate climates decades ago, Patrick Brown, a professor of plant breeding and genetics, said he and his team have completed the first comprehensive genomic analysis of the molecular changes behind that adaptation.read entire article

Honey BeesTribune-Review (Pittsburgh, Sept. 22) -- Without honey bees for pollination, the nation would lose crops valued at $20 billion to $30 billion, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Yet May Berenbaum, the head of the department of entomology at the U. of I., says much of the buzz about colony collapse disorder is exaggeration. “The rhetoric has gotten ridiculous,” she says. “It is hyperbolic to talk about the apocalypse.”read entire article

EngineeringPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Sept. 19) -- A new optical device developed by a team of electrical and computer engineering students at Illinois can identify the contents of the fluid in an intravenous line in real-time, offering a promising way to improve the safety of IV drug delivery. The team, led by Brian T. Cunningham, the interim director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the U. of I., will present its work at the annual meeting of the Optical Society of America in Orlando, Fla., in early October.read entire article

Social BehaviorScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., Sept. 12) -- How and why fish swim in schools has long fascinated biologists looking for clues to understand the complexities of social behavior. A new study by a team of researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center may help provide some insight. Alison Bell, a professor of animal biology at the U. of I., said the linking of behaviors to different genomic regions in the same species -- and in particular, social behavior that depends on the behavior of others -- makes the study especially compelling.read entire article

EntomologyPCT Magazine (Richfield, Ohio, Sept. 10) -- U. of I. entomology department head May Berenbaum is to become president of the Entomological Society of America in 2016.read entire article

ChemistryPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Sept. 5) -- A research team at the U. of I. that included chemistry professor Ken Suslick has helped develop a faster, simpler test for detecting the presence of disease-causing bacteria.read entire article

EntomologyThe Buffalo News (from The Associated Press; New York, Sept. 1) -- Colony collapse disorder is affecting bee colonies in the U.S. and in Europe, where regulators are considering a ban on a type of pesticides known as neonicotinoids that some environmental groups blame for the bee collapse. May Berenbaum, the head of the department of entomology at Illinois, says she was “extremely dubious” that banning the pesticide would have any effect on bee health.read entire article

BioengineeringThe New York Times (Aug. 18) -- Not all bioengineers who are using printers in the lab are trying to create tissues or organs. Some are intent on making biological machines. In the laboratory of Rashid Bashir, the head of the bioengineering department at the U. of I., researchers have made small hybrid “biobots” – part gel, part muscle cell – that can move on their own. The research may someday lead to the development of tiny devices that could travel within the body, sensing toxins and delivering medication.read entire article

InsectsCNBC (Aug. 15) -- A type of pesticide that’s a focal point in the controversy over endangered honey bees has turned up in garden-store plants sampled by Friends of the Earth. May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the U. of I., said the pilot study was “an eye-opener” in the debate over honey bee health and a mysterious syndrome known as colony collapse disorder.read entire article

BusinessPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Aug. 14) -- When evaluating the performance of a brand in a certain territory, it might be more appropriate to evaluate it against its local competitors as opposed to its performance in other territories, according to research from Raj Echambadi, a U. of I. professor of business administration.read entire article

EngineeringEngineering . illinois . edu (Champaign, Aug. 12) -- After six years “on tour,” the University of Illinois’ totally solar-powered Element House returns home on Wednesday, August14. Its new home will be located at the Energy Biosciences Institute Research Farm just south of the U of I campus. read entire article

WorkshopNews Gazette (Champaign, Aug. 10) -- More than a dozen Native American scholars from across North America were at the Institute for Genomic Biology on the University of Illinois campus this week to learn about the science behind extracting and analyzing DNA of indigenous people, as well as the ethical and legal issues involved.read entire article

LeadershipIllinois . edu (Champaign, Aug. 9) -- Chancellor Phyllis Wise discusses "Looking to Illinois for Leadership" in her most recent blog post, referencing IGB Director Gene Robinson's testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Research and Technology Hearing in Washington, D.C. on the subject "The Frontiers of Human Brain Research."read entire article

ChemistryScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., July 29) -- As a result of the variable nature of gene expression, genetically identical cells inhabiting the same environment can vary significantly in their numbers of key enzymes, which in turn results in strikingly different cellular behaviors. Incorporating data from studies of gene regulation and protein distributions in single cells, the research group of U. of I. chemistry professor Zaida Luthey-Schulten was able to identify several behavioral subtypes within a modeled population.read entire article

BiologyScience (July 24) -- Why some planarians can so easily regenerate a head but others can't is a question that has long puzzled scientists. "This is really just a classic problem in the field," says Phillip Newmark, a U. of I. professor of cell and developmental biology. Now, three teams of researchers have not only zeroed in on the biological reason for this limitation, they've also managed to restore the worms' full regenerative abilities by manipulating a single genetic pathway.read entire article

BeesLiveScience (New York City, June 27) -- Gene Robinson, a bee researcher at the U. of I., comments on a new study about bee behavior. "The result is interesting, as it provides provocative information to suggest that there might be lateralization in the bee brain, as there is in vertebrate brains," said Robinson, the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology.read entire article

Honey BeesThe Boston Globe (June 23) -- A self-described “tree-hugger,” May Berenbaum, the head of the department of entomology at the U. of I., is highly critical of systemic pesticides, thought to be a culprit in the decline of the honey bee population. She just hasn’t seen enough evidence to support banning them. If and when it reaches that point, she says, “I’d be the first one in line” pushing to restrict their use. read entire article

BioengineeringRashid Bashir, director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be the next head of the University’s Department of Bioengineering beginning in August of 2013.read entire article

YogurtFood Processing (Wahroonga, Australia, June 20) -- “Current research on the potential impact of yogurt on health is encouraging, and we look forward to learning more about the unique contribution that yogurt offers to individuals and overall public health,” says Sharon Donovan, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the U. of I.read entire article

BiofuelBiomass Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., June 19) -- The black locust tree is being evaluated by researchers at the Energy Biosciences Institute at the U. of I. to determine its potential for biofuel production.read entire article

BiomassBioenergy Insight (Surrey, England, June 19) -- Researchers from the Energy Biosciences Institute at the U. of I. are evaluating the biomass potential of woody crops, and their work is making them take a close look at the Robinia pseudoacacia tree – otherwise known as the black locust. read entire article

PollinationAgWeb (Mexico, Mo., June 17) -- “Close to 100 crop species ... rely to some degree on pollination services provided by this one (bee) species – collectively, these crops make up approximately 1/3 of the U.S. diet ...,” says May Berenbaum, an entomology professor at the U. of I.read entire article

EthanolEthanol Producer Magazine (Grand Forks, N.D., June 13) -- The Energy Biosciences Institute has been granted its first patent since the public-private research partnership was established in 2007. According to the EBI, the newly patented discovery resulted from work completed by teams at Illinois and the University of California at Berkeley to optimize sugar conversion yields by yeast in the production of ethanol.read entire article

Forest ManagementPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, June 13) -- In order to keep pace with the burgeoning demand for renewable energy, forest management policy in the U.S. must change to address environmental sustainability issues, according to Jody Endres, a U. of I. professor of natural resources and environmental sciences.read entire article

EntomologyThe Washington Post (June 11) -- The spread of a toxic invasive plant has alarmed forest authorities. The plant’s sap is harmful, but caterpillars have discovered defenses. Caterpillars that chew on plants containing those compounds have developed several defenses against the toxins, says May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the U. of I.read entire article

Honey BeesWestern Farm Press (Clarksdale, Miss., June 12) -- A regulatory gene known to be involved in learning and the detection of novelty in vertebrates also kicks into high gear in the brains of honey bees when they are learning how to find food and bring it home. “This discovery gives us an important lead in figuring out how honey bees are able to navigate so well, with such a tiny brain,” says Gene Robinson, a professor of entomology and of neuroscience and the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I.read entire article

LawPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, June 11) -- When Web surfers sign up for a new online service or download a Web application for their smartphone or tablet, the service typically requires them to click a seemingly innocuous box and accept the company’s terms of service and privacy policy. But agreeing to terms without reading them beforehand can adversely affect a user’s legal rights, says U. of I. law professor Jay Kesan, a co-author of an article on the topic.read entire article

Honey BeesSt. Louis Post-Dispatch (June 9) -- As honey bee numbers continue to decline, some studies suggest a link between dead bees and high levels of neonicotinoid compounds. “It’s a controversial subject,” says Gene E. Robinson, the director of the Bee Research Facility at the U. of I. “Not all studies agree with each other. It’s a subject that bears more scrutiny.”read entire article

Sea Slugse! Science News (Quebec City, June 6) -- Research by U. of I. professor of molecular and integrative physiology Rhanor Gillette shows that a deep-water species of sea slug found off the west coast of the United States may be smarter than was thought.read entire article

BiofuelsDomestic Fuel (Holts Summit, Mo., June 5) -- A study from two U. of I. researchers says the Environmental Protection Agency lacks “transparency and clarity” when it comes to approving new feedstocks for biofuels.read entire article

NewsletterThe newest issue of the Enzyme Function Initiative (EFI) newsletter, EFIinside, is now available. The EFI is a large-scale collaborative project (glue grant) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of approximately 80 researchers at 9 academic institutions in the US and Canada. They are developing a robust sequence/structure based strategy for facilitating discovery of in vitro enzymatic and in vivo metabolic/physiological functions of unknown enzymes discovered in genome projects, a crucial limitation in genomic biology. read entire article

Crop PestFood Safety News (Seattle, May 28) -- The western corn rootworm defeated crop rotation during the 1990s when a new strain of the worm began began laying eggs in soybean fields so it would be ready for corn planting in the following year. “Up until then, rotation of corn and soybeans was a pretty good control strategy,” says U. of I. entomologist Michael Gray.read entire article

BeesAgri News (LaSalle, Ill., May 21) -- Diets used in beekeeping may play a role in preventing the insects from staving off the effects of some pesticides, a new study suggests. The findings of the research, led by U. of I. entomologist May Berenbaum, were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.read entire article

Tumor GrowthScicasts (Leicester, England) (May 20) -- Researchers at the U. of I. have made progress in the fight against cancer. A new study, published in the journal Oncogene, shows how an important component of the inflammatory response and immune cell growth can become an important factor in tumor growth.read entire article

Genomic RegulationNanotechnology Now (Honolulu, May 20) -- Researchers form the U. of I. and Mayo Clinic have developed a novel single molecule test for detecting DNA methylation that should greatly simplify and advance the study of this important genomic process.read entire article

Colorectal CancerNews-Medical . net (Sydney, May 20) -- “African Americans have the highest colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates of all racial groups in the U.S.,” says Franck Carbonero, a postdoctoral research associate at the U. of I. Institute for Genomic Biology. “The reasons for this are not yet understood. Our findings offer insight into this disparity and pave the way for new research.”read entire article

CicadasThe Irish Times (Dublin, May 20) -- Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the east coast of the U.S., scientists say. “It’s not like these hordes of cicadas suck blood or zombify people,” said May Berenbaum, a U. of I. entomology professor. They are looking for just one thing: sex.read entire article

BiofuelsPhys Org. com (Douglas, Isle of Man, May 15) -- U. of I. scientists have developed an environmentally friendly and more economical way of pretreating Miscanthus in the biofuel production process.read entire article

Sacred LotusPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, May 10) -- U. of I. researchers report in the journal Genome Biology that they have sequenced the lotus genome, and the results offer insight into the heart of some of its mysteries.read entire article

CornCorn and Soybean Digest (Minneapolis, May 9) -- U. of I. agricultural entomologist Mike Gray has conducted western corn rootworm research for many years and has analyzed the economic impact of corn rootworm Bt hybrids.read entire article

BiofuelsScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., May 8) -- Jody Endres, a U. of I. professor of natural resources and environmental sciences, says standards are needed so farmers, ethanol producers, and others in the biofuels industry will all be on the same page.read entire article

Royal SocietyPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, May 6) -- U. of I. plant biologist Stephen P. Long has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Members are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science, via a thorough peer review process.read entire article

EntomologyThe New York Times (May 2) -- The devastation of American honeybee colonies is the result of a complex stew of factors, including pesticides, parasites, poor nutrition and a lack of genetic diversity, according to a comprehensive federal study published on Thursday. May Berenbaum, the head of the department of entomology at Illinois and a participant in the study, says that examination of dead bees had found residues of more than 100 chemicals, insecticides and pesticides, including some used to control parasites in bee hives.read entire article

Biomarkers For Ovarian CancerMedical Xpress (Douglas, Isle of Man, April 30) -- Illinois animal sciences professor Sandra Rodriguez-Zas and graduate student Kristin Delfino identified biomarkers that are used to determine ovarian cancer survival and recurrence and showed how the interactions between these biomarkers affect these outcomes. read entire article

Honey BeesScience News (Williamsport, Pa., April 29) -- Honey is more than a sweet treat to bees. New tests find compounds in honey that trigger surges of activity in genes needed for detoxifying chemicals or for making antimicrobial agents. The research was led by U. of I. entomologist May Berenbaum. The findings might provide clues in how to slow the rapid decline of bee populations attributed to "colony collapse disorder." read entire article

Biological EngineeringChemical & Engineering News (Washington, D.C., April 25) -- People with chronic diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis have inflamed, leaky blood vessels, heightening their risk of heart attack and stroke. Some scientists envision using a patient’s own stem cells to regrow healthy tissue to plug the leaks and calm inflammation. A polymer coating developed by U. of I. chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Hyunjoon Kong could help those cells find their biological targets.read entire article

Climate ChangeNature (London, April 23) -- Evan DeLucia, a U. of I. plant biology professor, says results from a new experiment intended to assess the impact of increased carbon dioxide on the Amazon rainforest need to be considered in relation to the scale of the forest. “At the end of the day, no experiment is representative of the totality of the biome,” says DeLucia, who has conducted similar research in South Carolina.read entire article

Art of ScienceSmilepolitely . com (Champaign, Illinois, April 15) -- One of the images featured at the third annual IGB Art of Science exhibit, held this year at indi go artist co-op between April 18 and April 21, is a section of a piglet hippocampus. It was taken for the research being done in Dr. Johnson’s Lab with the Laboratory of Integrative Biology at the U of I. UI graduate student Matthew Conrad from Professor Rod Johnson's lab is interviewed about this image. read entire article

Honey BeesMcDonough County Voice (Macomb, Ill., April 6) -- U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum says Americans are just beginning to understand how important honey bees are to their daily lives. And just how disastrous their disappearance could be.read entire article

EvolutionDiscovery (April 1) -- “Our perspective is that life emerged from a collective state, and so it is not at all obvious that there is one single organism which was ancestral,” says Nigel Goldenfeld, a U. of I. physics professor.read entire article

Crop DiseasesCropLife (Willoughby, Ohio, April 1) -- Dry and hot conditions played a major role in the incidence and spectrum of diseases growers saw in Illinois crops, says Carl Bradley, an Extension specialist at Illinois.read entire article

Neural NetworksScientific American (March 27) -- U. of I. biophysicist Nigel Goldenfeld’s research into how neural networks in the brain interact with one another suggests how the relatively structured architecture of the human brain might have developed as an evolutionary advantage.read entire article

Invasive PlantsJournal Gazette & Times-Courier (Mattoon, Ill., March 26) -- Researchers at the U. of I. Energy Biosciences Institute have developed suggestions on how to improve the regulation of all invasive plant species, including new biofuels plants.read entire article

EntomologyPest Control Technology (pctonline.com, March 26) -- Research tells us that individual insects within a species can have different likes and dislikes, attitudes and tendencies. And when a trait, such as acting explorative, is observed in various circumstances, that behavior then can be called personality. Head of entomology May Berenbaum and IGB director Gene Robinson, both from the University of Illinois, add to the discussion on personality traits among insects.read entire article

EndoscopyElectronics Weekly (Croydon, England, March 22) -- Thin as a human hair and with a resolution four times that of similar devices, the world’s slimmest endoscope could soon visualize the parts other scopes cannot reach. “Just as the telecoms industry has devised ways to squeeze more information content through optical fibers, this team have done the same for medical endoscopy,” says Stephen Boppart, a bioengineering professor at the U. of I.read entire article

Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) Announces the Fifth Annual Biofuels Law and Regulation ConferenceThe Fifth Annual Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) Biofuels Law and Regulation Conference, “Emerging Issues for Advanced Biofuel Commercialization,” will be held at the I Hotel and Conference Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on April 19, 2013. The EBI’s Biofuels Law and Regulation Project is organizing the Conference.

The Conference will focus on the multitude of emerging issues impacting the ongoing commercialization of advanced biofuels. It will involve leading academic, scientific, government, and industry experts, with opportunities for in-depth discussion between and among speakers and audience members. The organizers have structured the program to appeal to a variety of stakeholders, including those from business, law, government, and academia, biomass producers, students, and the public generally.

Detailed information can be found on the Conference website, www.biofuellawconference.org. Cost of attendance is free, but registration is required. Registration questions should be directed to Elizabeth Stull, Conference Administrator, at estull@illinois.edu.

Origins of LifeLab Manager Magazine (Midland, Ontario, March 13) -- Researchers in the Evolutionary Bioinformatics Laboratory at the U. of I. in collaboration with German scientists have been using bioinformatics techniques to probe the world of proteins for answers to questions about the origins of life.read entire article

Bees and Caffeine Aiken Standard (South Carolina, March 9) -- A new study says honey bees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. Gene Robinson, IGB Director and entomology professor who was not involved in the study, says it provides strong evidence that coffee and citrus plants use the caffeine strategy.read entire article

Climate Change and Food SupplyYale Environment 360 (February 7) -- One of the few potential advantages attributed to soaring carbon dioxide levels has been enhanced crop growth. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, professor of crop sciences and IGB faculty member Stephen Long talks about his research showing why rising temperatures and an increase in agricultural pests may offset any future productivity gains.read entire article

Biofuel PlantsPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, March 6) -- Researchers propose new solution to ensure biofuel plants don’t become noxious weeds. “According to our analysis, current noxious weed laws do not provide adequate protection to prevent invasions in natural areas, and we have a shared responsibility for proper stewardship of these landscapes,” says Lauren Quinn a research associate at the Energy Biosciences Institute at the U. of I., and the lead author of the study.read entire article

ChemistryScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., Feb. 27) -- U. of I. researchers including chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother are part of a team to design and test a set of synthetic cancer-killing compounds based on a potent fungal chemical.read entire article

Ivory PoachingNature (London, Feb. 27) -- Conservationists are hoping new applications of forensic science will let authorities track poachers and crack down on the illegal ivory trade that threatens the world elephant population. Alfred Roca, an animal sciences professor at the U. of I. – whose work demonstrated that African elephants are actually likely to be two separate species – has used mitochondrial DNA to trace ivory hauls.read entire article

CybersecuritySecurityInfoWatch (Alpharetta, Ga., Feb. 25) -- Security experts warn that the recent cyberattacks on Apple and The New York Times are only the highest-profile examples of an escalating problem that threatens American businesses and undermines national security. “A new frontier for people who are not our friends is attacking our infrastructure and disrupting our day-to-day lives and our economy,” says Jay Kesan, a U. of I. professor of law. “It’s not traditional warfare, but it should be a matter of very high priority.”read entire article

BiologyScience Blog (Los Angeles, Feb. 26) -- A study led by U. of I. cell and developmental biology professor Phillip Newmark and postdoctoral researcher James J. Collins III sheds some light on the amazing survival power of a parasitic flatworm that can live in a human body for decades. It turns out, stem cells are behind the regenerative power of Schistosoma mansoni, a parasite that infects more than 230 million people annually.read entire article

Inaugural Lewin Lecture Takes PlaceThe inaugural Harris A. Lewin Pioneer in Genomic Biology Distinguished Lecture took place on February 19, 2013 at the Institute for Genomic Biology. The Lewin Lecture is the first named endowment at the IGB, and featured a lecture by Professor Evan Eichler from the Department of Genomic Sciences at the University of Washington. The talk was titled “Structural Variation, Disease and the Evolution of the Human Genome" and is available for viewing at this link.

Carl WoeseScience Magazine (Washington, D.C., Feb. 8) -- A look back at the work of renowned U. of I. microbiologist Carl R. Woese, who died, Dec. 30, by Illinois physics professor Nigel Goldenfeld and Norman Pace, of the University of Colorado at Boulder.read entire article

Global Warming and CropsEnvironment 360 (New Haven, Conn., Feb. 7) -- One of the few potential advantages attributed to soaring carbon dioxide levels has been the prospect of enhanced crop growth. U. of I. crop sciences professor Stephen Long says rising temperatures and an increase in agricultural pests may offset any future productivity gains.read entire article

ChemistryChemical & Engineering News (Washington, D.C., Jan. 28) -- Most new drugs are discovered by screening compound collections, or libraries, for worthy candidates. But many such collections consist primarily of molecules that do not possess the structural, stereochemical and functional complexity equivalent to that of natural products. A new method of constructing natural-product-like compound collections developed by U. of I. chemistry professor Paul J. Hergenrother and his team aims to address that deficiency.read entire article

BacteriaPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Jan. 28) -- U. of I. physics professor Karin A. Dahmen is part of a mulit-university team that has discovered that microscopic bacteria have a lot in common with earthquakes – when it comes to their jolting movements.read entire article

GeneticsThe New York Times (Jan. 28) -- A recent breakthrough by Harvard geneticist Hopi E. Hoekstra might help map animal behavior to DNA. Gene E. Robinson, of the U. of I. who has used honey bees to study social behavior, praises her “exciting, pathbreaking work” and says, “It will be hard to get to the genes, but not impossible. She has established a powerful experimental system.”read entire article

BiochemistryPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Jan. 22) -- While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, U. of I. researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before, says U. of I. chemistry and Institute for Genomic Biology professor Wilfred van der Donk, who conducted the study with graduate student Weixin Tang.read entire article

BioscienceNews Medical . net (Sydney, Jan. 16) -- Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD. Although medical advances have extended the lifespans of DMD patients from their teens or 20s into their early 30s, disease-related damage to the heart and diaphragm still limits their lifespan. “Almost 100 percent of patients develop dilated cardiomyopathy,” in which a weakened heart with enlarged chambers prevents blood from being properly pumped throughout the body, says U. of I. comparative biosciences professor Suzanne Berry-Miller, who led the study.read entire article

BiofuelsEnvironmental Research Web (Bristol, England, Jan. 14) -- Perennial biofuel crops such as miscanthus, whose high yields have led them to be considered an eventual alternative to corn in producing ethanol, are now shown to have another beneficial characteristic – the ability to reduce the escape of nitrogen into the environment. In a four-year U. of I. study that compared miscanthus, switchgrass and mixed prairie species to typical corn-corn-soybean rotations, each of the perennial crops was highly efficient at reducing nitrogen losses, with miscanthus being the most effective.read entire article

GenomicsScience Daily (Chevy Chase, Md., Jan. 10) -- One of the most difficult problems in the field of genomics is assembling relatively short “reads” of DNA into complete chromosomes. In a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an interdisciplinary group of genome and computer scientists has solved this problem, creating an algorithm that can rapidly create “virtual chromosomes” with no prior information about how the genome is organized. The research was co-led by U. of I. bioengineering professor Jian Ma.read entire article

In MemoriamThe New York Times (Dec. 31) -- Renowned U. of I. microbiologist Carl R. Woese, who discovered a new domain of life, died Sunday at his home in Urbana. He was 84.read entire article

HIV EvolutionNews-Medical . net (Sydney, Dec. 20) -- Alfred Roca, professor and affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology, thinks that the genomes of an isolated West African human population could provide important clues about how HIV has evolved.read entire article

EntomologyNPR (Dec. 14) -- In a tropical rainforest in Panama, a multinational team of scientists has just completed the first ever insect census – a process that took two years to collect and another eight to process. May Berenbaum, an entomologist at Illinois, says nothing like this project has ever been done before. And it’s important because of the critical role arthropods play in nature.read entire article

Crop SciencesNews Gazette (Dec. 14) -- U. of I. researchers will use a $5.7 million grant to screen different lines of corn for ozone resistance. Ozone damage to corn crops worldwide is estimated at $700 million a year.read entire article

GeneticsScience (Washington, D.C., Dec. 14) -- Huimin Zhao, a U. of I. bioengineer, is turning plant pest proteins into tools for studying and reshaping genomes of many species. He and colleagues have demonstrated in yeast that a modified plant protein can correct the genetic defect underlying sickle cell disease.read entire article

Photosynthesis Research The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill., Dec. 12) -- The U. of I. has received a five-year, $25-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the photosynthetic properties of key food crops, including rice and cassava. “This grant will be game changing,” says Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences and plant biology at Illinois.read entire article

Patent SuitCNN (Dec. 7) -- The $1 billion patent dispute between Apple and Samsung picked back up in federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, with both sides arguing over issues of damages amounts, bans on product sales and allegations of dishonesty on the part of the jury foreman. A protracted legal battle after a jury verdict is not unusual in a case this large and complicated, and was expected by legal experts. “It shows that there is a careful process; the judge does get to review what the jury has done,” says U. of I. law professor Jay P. Kesan.read entire article

Biofuels R&D Magazine (Rockaway, N.J., Nov. 30) -- One reason for the production expense of biofuels is that the organisms used to ferment the biomass can’t digest hemicellulose, a cell-wall component that makes up about half of the available plant material. Illinois microbiologists Isaac Cann and Rod Mackie have been doing research at the Energy Biosciences Institute on an organism that they think could be used to solve this problem.read entire article

EntomologyPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Nov. 28) -- Researchers have created an interactive website, called Antkey, which includes more than 1,150 images and 70 video clips to help users determine an ant’s identity from more than 100 invasive and commonly introduced global species. The site was developed by Andy Suarez, a U. of I. professor of entomology and animal sciences, with postdoctoral researcher Eli Sarnat.read entire article

Food SafetyBusiness Standard (New Delhi, Nov. 28) -- U. of I. food science and human nutrition professor Hao Feng and colleagues have found a way to increase current industry capabilities when it comes to reducing the number of E. coli cells that may live undetected on spinach leaves.read entire article

Bio-BotsNational Geographic (Nov. 19) -- With the aid of a 3-D printer, U. of I. researchers have fashioned soft, quarter-inch-long biological robots out of gel-like material and rat heart cells. When the cells beat, the bio-bots take a step. “After a few days, the cells synchronize and beat spontaneously,” says Rashid Bashir, a professor of electrical, computer, and biological engineering.read entire article

GenomicsNature (London, Nov. 14) -- The stuffed head of a domestic pig looks down from the office wall of U. of I. animal sciences professor Lawrence Schook, who also is the university’s vice president for research. This week’s draft sequence of the pig’s genome, with its detailed annotation, might benefit agriculture and eventually make it possible for pigs to be engineered to provide organs for transplant into human patients.read entire article

Soybean FungusAg Professional (St. Louis, Nov. 9) -- Frogeye leaf spot, caused by a fungus, is an important pathogen of soybean plants. EBI faculty member and plant pathologist Carl Bradley said that since 2010, strains of the fungus that are resistant to strobilurin fungicide have been found in Illinois and other states.read entire article

OzoneFarm Industry News (Minneapolis, Oct. 31) -- People tend to think of ozone as something in the upper atmosphere that protects Earth’s surface from ultraviolet radiation. At the ground level, however, ozone is a pollutant that damages crops, particularly soybeans. Lisa Ainsworth, a U. of I. professor of crop sciences, says that establishing the exposure threshold for damage is critical to understanding the current and future impact of this pollutant.read entire article

Bee Research FacilityDaily Illini (Urbana, Il., Nov. 1) -- Students at the University of Illinois Bee Research Facility, led by IGB Director Gene Robinson, are studying how genes influence social behavior, and how the social environment affects brain gene expression and the general evolution of bee society.read entire article

BioinformaticsPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Oct. 26) -- Victor Jongeneel, director of the High-Performance Biological Computing (HPCBio) program and affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, is a key participant in a grant awarded by the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative, or H3Africa, to establish a pan-continental bioinformatics network to aid research.read entire article

BiofuelsDomestic Fuel (Holts Summit, Mo., Oct. 18) -- According to Jody Endres, a U. of I. professor of natural resources and environmental sciences, and Daniel Szewczyk, a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Genomic Biology, academia has failed to create green metrics for measuring the pros and cons of biofuels.read entire article

SoybeansPork Magazine (Lenexa, Kan., Oct. 16) -- Matt Hudson and Brian Diers, crop sciences researchers at the U. of I., and Andrew Bent at the University of Wisconsin, think they may have found a way to strengthen the resistance of soybeans to cyst nematodes.read entire article

Patent LawSydney Morning Herald (Australia, Oct. 9) -- Do current patent laws stifle innovation? Not according to Jay P. Kesan, a U. of I. law professor. “Intellectual property is property, just like a house, and its owners deserve protection,” says Kesan. “We have rules in place, and they’re getting better.”read entire article

Medical ScanningGizmag (Melbourne, Australia, Oct. 2) -- It may not be Star Trek’s famous “tricorder,” but a new device developed by a team of U. of I. engineers led by Stephan Boppart takes reality a step closer to science fiction. They have built a hand-held scanning device that provides real-time three-dimensional images of the insides of patients’ bodies.read entire article

Honey BeesDiscover Magazine (Sept. 15) -- Scientists have long known that epigenetic changes can separate a liver cell from a neuron, or even a queen bee from a worker. Other studies have found epigenetic changes that are related to changes in behavior. But as U. of I. entomologist Gene Robinson explains, researchers Adam Feinberg and Gro Amdam “demonstrate for the first time that if the behavior is reversible, so is the methylation.”read entire article

Origins of LifeGenomeWeb Daily News (New York City, Sept. 11) -- NASA has provided $40 million to fuel efforts to develop biological tools and technologies to study the origins and evolution of life. About $8 million is coming to the U. of I. to use genomics to understand early states of life.read entire article

Illinois physicist to lead $8 million NASA-funded studyDepartment of Physics (Urbana, Sept. 7) -- An interdisciplinary team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is among five new research groups selected to join the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) to study the origin and evolution of life. The NAI invitation comes with a five-year research grant totaling about $8 million.read entire article

AstrobiologyNASA (Washington, D.C., Sept. 5) -- NASA has awarded five-year grants totaling almost $40 million to five research teams to study the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe. The newly selected teams are from the U. of I., the University of Washington, MIT, the University of Wisconsin and USC.read entire article

FarmingNational Hog Farmer (Minneapolis, Aug. 31) -- Young people are not entering farming these days, and that’s a problem many communities have an interest in solving, according to a report from A. Bryan Endres and Rachel Armstrong, of the department of agricultural and consumer economics at Illinois.read entire article

ChemistryNanowerk News (Honolulu, Sept. 3) -- A U. of I. research group led by chemistry professor Ken Suslick has expanded the aerosol synthesis of porous carbon materials by the use of energetic carbon precursors.read entire article

MethaneChemical & Engineering News (Aug. 31) -- Researchers have long-wondered how Earth’s oceans could produce some 4 percent of the world’s methane, given that the potent greenhouse gas is normally produced in anaerobic environments such as swamps, not in oxygenated places like the sea. A team of U. of I. researchers led by William W. Metcalf and Wilfred A. van der Donk report that a marine microbe has the ability to make a molecule that other ocean organisms then metabolize to methane.read entire article

BiologyHuffington Post (Aug. 22) -- Symbiotic mergers of two distinct organisms to generate a third new one (symbiogenesis) are critical to the evolutionary process. Scientists holding this position were bolstered in the 1970s with new methods of molecular taxonomy and phylogeny, pioneered by U. of I. microbiologist Carl Woese.read entire article

Brain CellsBioscience Technology (Rockaway, N.J., Aug. 21) -- Working with units of material so small that it would take 50,000 to make up one drop, U. of I. chemist Jonathan Sweedler is developing the profiles of the contents of individual brain cells in a search for the root causes of chronic pain, memory loss and other maladies that affect millions of people.read entire article

BiofuelsEarthSky (Austin, Texas, Aug. 21) -- Andrew Leakey, a U. of I. professor of plant biology with the Institute for Genomic Biology, is trying to develop biofuel grasses that are drought-tolerant and will grow in marginal soils.read entire article

Corn PestFOX Business (from Dow Jones Newswire, Aug. 17) -- New tests confirm that damage last year to some corn fields in western Illinois was caused by rootworms that have developed resistance to a Monsanto Co. genetically modified trait, U. of I. entomologist Mike Gray says.read entire article

Researchers peek at the early evolution of sex chromosomesTwo new studies offer insight into sex chromosome evolution by focusing on papaya, a multimillion dollar crop plant with a sexual problem (as far as growers are concerned) and a complicated past. The findings are described in two papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.read entire article

Entomology“The Academic Minute” (from WAMC-FM (90.3), Albany, N.Y.; National Science Foundation; Washington, D.C., July 30) -- An interview about bees and personality that highlights the research of U. of I. entomology professor Gene Robinson, the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology.read entire article

Crop DiseasePublic News Service (Boulder, Colo., July 27) -- Even with drought conditions across the Farm Belt taking a toll on crops, many farmers are still using planes to spray their fields for disease – quite possibly for no good reason. U. of I. plant pathologist Carl Bradley says spraying is probably not going to do any good. “We didn’t see any kind of a benefit to using fungicides in very, very dry weather.” His findings indicate that the drier the crop, the less chance there is of any disease taking hold.read entire article

BiofuelsBiofuels Digest (Miami, July 25) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a five-year, $12.1 million grant to researchers at Illinois, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and collaborators at the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Minnesota and Washington State University to develop a new model plant system to advance bioenergy grasses as a sustainable source of renewable fuels.read entire article

BiofuelsSt. Louis Post-Dispatch (July 16) -- The U. of I. is among five recipients of a $12.1 million federal grant to develop drought-tolerant grass as a sustainable source of biofuel.read entire article

AnthropologyThe Korea Herald (Seoul, July 12) -- Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at the U. of I., says a new genetic analysis adds nuance to a consensus view that there was a single source population that gave rise to Native Americans. The Harvard-led study team’s explanation that there were multiple waves of migration that interbred with the earlier groups in parts of North America helps explain the overall similarity of DNA among all Native Americans as well as some unaccounted for differences in groups from North America, Malhi wrote in an email.read entire article

SensesNature (June 21) -- There are well-established technologies for measuring and reproducing three of the five human senses – sight, sound and touch – but mimicking our two chemical senses, taste and smell, has proved more challenging. Kenneth Suslick, a chemist at Illinois, says that artificial versions of these senses would have practical applications and also provide an aid to understanding another aspect of human biology. Suslick works on both artificial tongues and artificial noses: The noses deal with gases, whereas the tongues handle liquids (and solids that have been liquefied, which is what happens when we eat).read entire article

CancerNIH (Bethesda, Md., July 6) - A new method to isolate and grow the most dangerous cancer cells could enable new research into how cancer spreads and, ultimately, how to fight it. U. of I. researchers, led by mechanical science and engineering professor Ning Wang, and collaborators in China found that while a traditional culture of cancer cells has only a few capable of starting new tumors, a soft gel is capable of isolating tumor-repopulating cells and promoting the growth and multiplication of these cells in culture.read entire article

Breast MilkUnited Press International (July 6) -- Babies can’t digest part of what’s in breast milk, but it gives them a big health boost just the same, a U.S. researcher says. Sharon Donovan, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Illinois, examined molecules called HMOs, which are not food for babies, but do feed beneficial bacteria in the gut. Donovan says these bacteria can protect against infection and strengthen the immune system.read entire article

New way to grow, isolate cancer cells may add weapon against diseaseThe news a cancer patient most fears is that the disease has spread and become much more difficult to treat. A new method to isolate and grow the most dangerous cancer cells could enable new research into how cancer spreads and, ultimately, how to fight it. “This may open the door for understanding and blocking metastatic colonization, the most devastating step in cancer progression,” said Ning Wang, a professor of mechanical science and engineering who co-led the study.read entire article

Soybean PestCrop Life (Willoughby, Ohio, June 28) -- Some soybean fields in northern Illinois are currently infested with whiteflies, says Mike Gray, a U. of I. professor of entomology. “If hot and dry conditions persist, I anticipate infestations of whiteflies will intensify along with twospotted spider mite challenges in the same fields,” Gray said.read entire article

BeesThe Deseret News (Salt Lake City, June 19) -- The apparent comeback of a rare bumblebee species in Utah is generating some excitement among scientists in the state. Efforts to raise awareness of and to spur research into the decline of U.S. bee populations has been led by U. of I. entomologist May Berenbaum. Research led by Berenbaum helped drive new initiatives by national officials to better document and protect honey bee populations, and also shed light on the oft-neglected bumblebee, a native pollinator even less understood.read entire article

Corn PestCrop Life (Willoughby, Ohio, June 13) -- The Western corn rootworm season is progressing at an unprecedented pace, U. of I. crop sciences professor Mike Gray says.read entire article

MicroscopyScience Codex (San Jose, Calif., June 12) -- A study by Surangi Punyasena and Mayandi Sivaguru, researchers in the U. of I. Institute for Genomic Biology, identifies the best microscopy techniques to identify the shape and texture of pollen grains.read entire article

Gene SequencingPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, June 11) -- The sequencing of the human genome has provided a wealth of genetic information, yet the goal of understanding the function of every gene remains. New research led by U. of I. bioengineering professor Sheng Zhong suggests determining the purpose of genes through a new method called “comparative epigenomics.” “Comparative epigenomics is to use interspecies comparison of DNA and histone modifications – as an approach for annotation of the regulatory genome,” Zhong said.read entire article

Immune SystemNews Track India (New Delhi, June 12) -- A research team including Bryan White, a U. of I. professor of animal sciences, found that the billions of bacteria in the human gastrointestinal system regulate the immune system and related autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. “Because it’s presented with multiple insults daily through the introduction of new bacteria, food sources and foreign antigens, the gut is continually teasing out what’s good and bad,” White said.read entire article

Zoo Insect ExhibitChicago Tribune (June 6) -- The “Xtreme Bugs” exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago includes live bugs and models as large as Volkswagen Beetles. Seeing larger-than-life bugs demystifies them, says May Berenbaum, the head of the entomology department at Illinois. “That magnification eliminates one of the greatest factors that distances insects from people. One of the reasons people are uncomfortable about insects is that they’re hard to keep track of. They manage to get into your basement, into your pantry, into your pants without you being aware. These extreme bugs will not get into your pants without you being aware of what’s going on.”read entire article

EntomologyMedill Reports (Evanston, Ill., June 6) -- Household and farm pesticides called neonicotinoids may be linked to the deaths of millions of bees, European scientists report. U.S. scientists also suggest that a particular pest, the Varroa mite, is taking a toll on bee populations. “The studies are very disconnected,” says May Berenbaum, an entomologist at Illinois. The studies don’t address factors relating to bee health, she said.read entire article

New Core Facilities Capabilities Institute for Genomic Biology (Urbana, June 1) -- The Core Facilities group will be receiving new capabilities with the addition of an objective inverter to augment an existing nonlinear optical microscope. This will allow for non-invasive imaging of live intact organs and tissues, specifically enabling such possibilities as neural imaging, measuring intestinal stem cell proliferation in living tissue, or real time observation of developmental changes in germ cells in testis. As part of the IGB’s microscopy core facility, this equipment is available to the entire UIUC campus community (with the required training).Core Facilities instruments

Medical DiagnosticsBiomed Middle East (Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 31) -- Doctors can now get a peek behind the eardrum to better diagnose and treat chronic ear infections, thanks to a new medical imaging device invented by a U. of I. research team led by electrical and computer engineering professor Stephen Boppart.read entire article

Chemical Incident at IGBInstitute for Genomic Biology (Urbana, May 29) -- We'd like to thank our community over the concern of a minor chemical spill in one of our labs in the IGB research building on May 28th. We are taking this opportunity to relate the details of the event to give a clear understanding of what actually took place.read entire article

'RNA World'Science 2.0 (Reno, Nev., May 27) -- The “RNA world” hypothesis first appeared in 1986 and posits that the first stages of molecular evolution involved RNA and not proteins, and that proteins (and DNA) emerged later, says U. of I. crop sciences professor Gustavo Caetano-Anollés. “I’m convinced that the RNA world (hypothesis) is not correct. That world of nucleic acids could not have existed if not tethered to proteins.”read entire article

Crop PestsCorn and Soybean Digest (Minneapolis, May 25) -- U. of I. professor of entomology Mike Gray says it’s important for farmers to watch out for the two-spotted spider mite and the bean leaf beetle, especially with very hot and dry weather in the near term.read entire article

Miscanthus GenomePhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, May 15) – U. of I. crop sciences professor and Energy Biosciences Institute program leader Stephen Moose and his colleagues have mapped the Miscanthus sinensis genome, a first step toward a full genome sequence of a plant with a promising future in the production of biofuels.read entire article

Infant NutritionNews-Medical . net (Sydney, May 15) -- A new study led by U. of I. nutrition and health professor Sharon Donovan might explain the role of a little-understood component of breast milk in helping babies develop. The research shows that human milk oligosaccharides produce short-chain fatty acids that feed a beneficial microbial population in the infant gut.read entire article

Author File - Taekjip HaNature Methods -- During DNA repair and replication, various enzymes form a team of highly coordinated players. For Taekjip Ha, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the best way to learn the rules of the game is to watch individual molecules. “You can learn so much about the protein that you couldn't have otherwise,” he says.read entire article

Genetic EngineeringMother Nature Network (Atlanta, May 4) -- Sorghum and sugarcane are both widely used crop plants that produce a small amount of oil, but they are mostly farmed for food purposes rather than used for fuel. The U. of I. is looking to change that. Stephen Long, a genomics biology professor at the university, heads the project, and the goal is to enhance the oil-producing qualities of sorghum and sugarcane so that they produce more oil than sugar or starch. This would make these varieties of sorghum and sugarcane into major oil crops, which could provide a significant source of fuel for the U.S.read entire article

AnthropologyNature (London, May 2) -- Ripan Malhi, a professor of anthropology at the U. of I., questions whether recent genetic testing results accurately prove the geographic origins of the first prehistoric settlers to the Americas. He is one of an emerging group of researchers combining modern genetic technology with archaeological investigation to answer questions about the origins of human inhabitation.read entire article

AwardPhys Org . com (Urbana, Ill., May 1) -- Harris Lewin has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), it was announced today. Lewin, an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Animal Sciences and founding director of the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), was recognized for research he conducted during his 27 years at the University of Illinois. He is now vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Davis, where he earned his doctorate in 1984.read entire article

SoybeansCrop Life (Willoughby, Ohio, April 27) -- Sudden death syndrome caused by a fungus has plagued soybean growers in Illinois since the 1980s, according to U. of I. plant pathologist Carl Bradley.read entire article

CropsWICD 15 (Urbana) -- About 10 people are working on a grant funded project at the University of Illinois that would genetically engineer certain crops in order to produce more oil per acre. Stephen Long says, "We're looking at crops that can be grown on poorer land than soy and yet yield more oil per acre."read entire article

Sprouts The Packer (Lenexa, Kan., April 26) -- Research has again proven that the 1999 government recommended process for sanitizing sprout seeds is ineffective. However, there is agreement among many academics and growers about basic food safety measures they say would virtually eliminate the chance of pathogen-laden sprouts entering the supply chain. “It is too late if the seeds are not clean,” says Hao Feng, a U. of I. researcher in food and bioprocess engineering.read entire article

The Plight of BeesMinnesota . Publicradio . org (April 25) -- Professor Gene Robinson, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology and the University of Illinois Bee Research Facility, joins Marla Spivak, director of the Bee Lab at the University of Minnesota, to discuss the plight of bees on The Daily Circuit. An audio file of the show is available via the link.read entire article

GenomicsPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, April 25) -- A new technique U. of I. researchers developed to sequence the genomes of two champion bulls may provide for faster and less costly methods to breed genetically elite cattle.read entire article

3-D ImagingR&D Magazine (Rockaway, N.J., April 24) -- Real-time, 3D microscopic tissue imaging could be a revolution for medical fields such as cancer diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology. A new computational technique developed by researchers at the Beckman Institute, led by Stephen Boppart and Scott Carney, both professors of electrical and computer engineering, could provide faster, less-expensive and higher-resolution tissue imaging to a broader population of users.read entire article

May BerenbaumScientific American (April 16) -- A brief profile of renowned U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum, how she chose her field of study, and her views on the common attributes among good scientists and good journalists.read entire article

GuggenheimGreen Bay Press-Gazette (from USA Today; Wisconsin, April 13) -- Huimin Zhao, the Centennial Chair Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois, has received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to continue his work studying human diseases. Zhao works to engineer proteins used in drug discovery and gene therapy as well as industrial biotechnology and bioenergy.read entire article

Ethanol Costs Science Codex (San Jose, Calif., April 12) -- A new U. of I. study concludes that learning-by-doing, stimulated by increased ethanol production, played an important role in inducing technological progress in the corn ethanol industry. The study, co-written by Madhu Khanna, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics, and Xiaoguang Chen, of the U. of I. Energy Biosciences Institute, quantifies the role that factors such as economies of scale, learning-by-doing, induced technological innovation as a result of rising input prices and trade-induced competition played in reducing the processing costs of corn ethanol in the U.S. by 45 percent while also increasing production volumes seventeen-fold from 1983 to 2005.read entire article

Illinois engineering professor awarded Guggenheim FellowshipUniversity of Illinois professor Huimin Zhao has received a 2012 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually on the basis of achievement and exceptional promise. Zhao, the Centennial Chair Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is one of 181 distinguished scholars chosen from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants.read entire article

New antibiotic could make food safer and cows healthierFood-borne diseases might soon have another warrior to contend with, thanks to a new molecule discovered by chemists at the University of Illinois. The new antibiotic, an analog of the widely used food preservative nisin, also has potential to be a boon to the dairy industry as a treatment for bovine mastitis.read entire article

Team discovers how bacteria resist 'Trojan horse' antibioticA new study describes how bacteria use a previously unknown means to defeat an antibiotic. The researchers found that the bacteria have modified a common “housekeeping” enzyme in a way that enables the enzyme to recognize and disarm the antibiotic.read entire article

EntomologyThe China Post (Taipei, Taiwan, April 2) -- U. of I. entomology professor May Berenbaum comments on two new studies indicating a common pesticide may be implicated in the die-off of honey bees.read entire article

Bees The New York Times (March 29) -- In Thursday’s issue of the journal Science, two teams of researchers published studies suggesting that low levels of a common pesticide can have significant effects on bee colonies. One experiment, conducted by French researchers, indicates that the chemicals fog honey bee brains, making it harder for them to find their way home. “I thought it (the French study) was very well designed,” said May Berenbaum, an entomologist at Illinois.read entire article

Research ToolsThe Scientist (Philadelphia, March 29) -- The Broad Institute and Sanger Institute announced two new cancer cell line databases, the largest such repositories of genomic and drug profiling data to date that will provide researchers with a powerful new set of tools. “I think having two independent resources is a good thing,” says Jian Ma, IGB faculty member and U of I bioengineering professor who did not participate in the research. “If two different groups have the same result for one cell line, it would be more reliable.”read entire article

Antibiotic Phys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, March 19) -- Food-borne diseases might soon have another warrior to contend with, thanks to a new molecule discovered by chemists at Illinois. The new antibiotic, an analog of the widely used food preservative nisin, also has potential to be a boon to the dairy industry as a treatment for bovine mastitis.read entire article

BacteriaPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, March 19) -- A new U. of I. study describes how bacteria use a previously unknown means to defeat an antibiotic. The researchers found that the bacteria have modified a common “housekeeping” enzyme in a way that enables the enzyme to recognize and disarm the antibiotic.read entire article

Lifelong LearningThe Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is a campus program that offers classes, study groups, lectures and other educational opportunities to area residents older than 50. Membership in OLLI enables the students to engage in learning for the joy of it – which can include anything from courses in the arts and humanities to explorations of science and technology.read entire article

DNAScience 360 (Washington, D.C., March 13) -- The “RNA world” hypothesis, first promoted in 1986 in a paper in the journal Nature and defended and elaborated on for more than 25 years, posits that the first stages of molecular evolution involved RNA and not proteins, and that proteins (and DNA) emerged later, said U. of I. crop sciences and Institute for Genomic Biology professor Gustavo Caetano-Anollés, who led the new study. “I’m convinced that the RNA world (hypothesis) is not correct,” Caetano-Anollés said. “That world of nucleic acids could not have existed if not tethered to proteins.”read entire article

iGEMNSTA Reports (March 12) -- “I got involved in iGEM five years ago. It was our first team at the [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)]. I was introduced to Aleem Zafar, a brilliant and very motivated undergrad [who] was interested in synthetic biology and had heard about iGEM,” recalls Courtney Fuentes Evans, laboratory supervisor for the Mining Microbial Genomes for Novel Antibiotics Theme at the Institute for Genomic Biology. “I knew nothing about iGEM, but I was really motivated by the students...They developed a project and won a gold at the competition.”read entire article

SensorsChemical & Engineering News (Washington, D.C., March 12) -- Researchers led by Samie R. Jaffrey at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have developed a new sensor, based on RNA instead of protein, that can use fluorescence to image small molecules and proteins in living cells. This “alternative approach to image and study small-molecule metabolites is an important piece of work and will potentially have broad applications,” says U. of I. physics professor Taekjip Ha.read entire article

Honeybeesand GeneticsThe New York Times (March 9) -- Some honey bees are known to be thrill-seeking adventurers. Known as scouts, they fearlessly leave their hives and search for new sources of food and new hive locations for the rest of the colony. Now, a new study suggests that these scouts have genetic brain patterns that set them apart from other bees. “We found massive differences in brain gene expressions between scouts and nonscouts,” said Gene E. Robinson, an entomologist and geneticist at Illinois, as well as an author of the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Science.read entire article

HoneybeesScience News (Washington, D.C., March 8) -- That honey bee lazily probing a flower may actually be a stealth explorer, genetically destined to seek adventure from birth. To test the notion of whether bees have personality, scientists led by entomologist and geneticist Gene Robinson at Illinois focused on scout bees that embark on reconnaissance missions for food.read entire article

Cancer-SnifferBusinessWeek (March 1) -- Metabolomx, a 12-person company in Mountain View, Calif., appears on the fast track to bringing a cancer-sniffing device to market. Much of the technology behind the Metabolomx machine came from research done by co-founder Kenneth Suslick, a professor of chemistry at Illinois.read entire article

BiofuelChicago Tribune (from The Associated Press, March 2) -- With the support of a $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers led by scientists at Illinois will take the first steps toward engineering two new oil-rich crops. They aim to boost the natural, oil-producing capabilities of sugarcane and sorghum, increase the crops’ photosynthetic power and – in the case of sugarcane – enhance the plant’s cold tolerance so that it can grow in more northerly climes.read entire article

TechnologyScientific Computing (Rockaway, N.J., Feb. 29) -- U. of I. crop sciences professor Michael Gray and colleagues conducted a survey of corn and soybean pests in 47 counties in Illinois from late July to early August in 2011, and found densities of some key insect pests to be at zero or near zero in many counties. “I’ve never seen anything like it in 22 years of doing this kind of research,” Gray said. “From an insect diversity perspective, it’s a biological desert in many of those fields.”read entire article

Illinois supercomputers, expertise to help determine winner of genomics prizeBeginning in January 2013, teams will compete to accurately sequence the genomes of 100 healthy centenarians within 30 days for less than $1,000 per genome. A $10 million prize will be either awarded to a single winner or divided among successful teams. The Archon Genomics X PRIZE presented by Medco is intended to inspire breakthroughs in genome sequencing that will lead to the creation of a "medical grade" genome that can be used to improve patient diagnosis and treatment.read entire article

Lemelson-MIT $30,000 Illinois Student Prize Finalists Chosen Announced today are the five finalists for the Lemelson-MIT $30,000 Illinois Student Prize for innovation. Finalists were chosen by a distinguished panel of entrepreneurs as well as faculty members and professionals from across Illinois campus. The Lemelson-MIT $30,000 Illinois Student Prize is funded through a partnership with the Lemelson-MIT Program, which has awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to outstanding student inventors at MIT since 1995. Administered by the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the College of Engineering, the prize is awarded to a student who has demonstrated remarkable inventiveness and innovation.read entire article

Photosynthesis BBC (London, Feb. 22) -- A group led by U. of I. professor of crop sciences Stephen Long, the deputy director of the Energy Biosciences Institute at Illinois, is trying to improve the ability of plants to harness energy from the sun. And they’re using the processing power of the university’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications to do it.read entire article

Speciatione! Science News (Quebec City, Feb. 21) -- Researchers led by U. of I. microbiology professor Rachel Whitaker have evidence of sympatric speciation – whereby one organism divides into two divergent species while living in the same environment.read entire article

BiofuelEcoseed (New York City, Feb. 21) -- A hybrid of temperate and tropical maize developed by U of I. crop sciences professor Frederick Below can be a potential contender in biofuel production.read entire article

Land UseEnvironmental Research Web (Bristol, England, Feb. 20) -- Land-use change such as deforestation could cut crop yields by up to 17 percent by affecting the amount of moisture reaching key agricultural areas, according to U.S. scientists. That’s on top of the yield drop of the same magnitude it’s predicted that climate change may cause. “Nearly all of the moisture that falls as precipitation over these ‘breadbasket’ regions ultimately originates from and returns to the ocean,” says Justin Bagley, of the Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois.read entire article

Drug DevelopmentMedCity News (Cleveland, Feb. 6) -- A newly formed U. of I. spinoff company could be on to something good with a new drug treatment for cancer that targets an enzyme commonly found in various tumor types. U. of I. chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother and a handful of other co-founders of Vanquish Oncology are developing compounds that selectively kill cancer cells by targeting procaspase-3, an enzyme that spurs reactions that kill the cancer cell when it’s activated. Procaspase-3 is present in many brain, breast, lung and colon tumors, Hergenrother said.read entire article

BiofuelBusiness Insider (New York City, Feb. 4) -- What makes seaweed special is that compared with land-based biofuels such as corn and sugar cane, it can produce up to four times as much ethanol per unit. Yong-Su Jin, of the U. of I. Institute for Genomic Biology, cautions, however, that “we still face a huge technical gap for large-scale cultivation.” Costs would have to come down five-fold before the process for converting seaweed could become commercially competitive with ordinary fossil fuels.read entire article

Neurological Reserach e! Science News (Quebec City, Jan. 25) -- A study led by U. of I. physiologist Rhanor Gillette has found a neurological circuit linking hunger with fear to be at the heart of quick decision-making by a simple form of sea life.read entire article

Nutrition and CognitionFood Processing.com (Itasca, Ill., Jan. 24) -- The U. of I. and Abbott Laboratories have established the first multi-disciplinary nutrition and cognition research center, which will be located in Urbana.read entire article

MiscanthusACES News (Jan. 19) -- Concerns about the worldwide energy supply and national, environmental and economic security have resulted in a search for alternative energy sources. A new University of Illinois study shows Miscanthus x giganteus (M. x giganteus) is a strong contender in the race to find the next source of ethanol if appropriate growing conditions are identified.read entire article

Phylogeny and beyond: Scientific, historical, and conceptual significance of the first tree of lifePNAS (Jan. 18) -- In 1977, Carl Woese and George Fox published a brief paper in PNAS that established, for the first time, that the overall phylogenetic structure of the living world is tripartite. We describe the way in which this monumental discovery was made, its context within the historical development of evolutionary thought, and how it has impacted our understanding of the emergence of life and the characterization of the evolutionary process in its most general form.read entire article

BiofuelsRed Orbit . com (Dallas, Jan. 18) -- A team of U. of I. researchers has developed a computer model that could get biofuel crops to refineries more quickly and more efficiently. Agricultural and biological engineering professors K.C. Ting, Alan Hansen and Luis Rodriguez are cited, as is research professor Yogendra Shastri.read entire article

Solar EnergyPhys Org . com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Jan. 16) -- U. of I. plant biology professor Donald Ort and a team of scientists have devised a new way to more accurately compare how efficiently plants and photovoltaic, or solar, cells convert sunlight into energy, which could ultimately help researchers improve plant photosynthesis, a critical first link to enhancing the global supply of food, feed, fiber and bioenergy.read entire article

BiofuelsColumbia Daily Tribune (Missouri, Jan. 14) -- Miscanthus is a perennial grass that has seen its use as a biofuel rise in Europe, where fields have been known to return annually for decades. But the hybrid is sterile and does not produce seeds, so establishing it is expensive because the rhizomes were scarce. Tom Voigt, a professor of crop sciences at Illinois, has been studying the plant for years and pointed to Europe’s experience growing it and other studies that indicate a low risk for invasiveness. He said it could be possible for Miscanthus to spread, but because it is sterile it would do so slowly and could be controlled. “Boy, I’ve been growing it for more than 20 years, and I have never seen it in a place in my plantings where I did not plant it or want it to grow,” he said.read entire article

Molecular OxygenNews Bureau (Champaign, Jan. 11) -- University of Illinois crop sciences and Institute for Genomic Biology professor Gustavo Caetano-Anollés and his colleagues identified an oxygen-generating enzyme that likely was a key contributor to the rise of molecular oxygen on earth.read entire article

Land UseNews Bureau (Champaign, Jan. 9) -- University of Illinois plant biology and Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) professor Evan DeLucia and postdoctoral researcher Kristina Anderson-Teixeira developed a new way to calculate the potential climate impacts of land use changes, one that takes into account the greenhouse gas value and the biophysical attributes of different ecosystems.read entire article

Team Designs a Bandage that Spurs, Guides Blood Vessel GrowthNews Bureau (Champaign, Dec. 15) -- Researchers at Illinois have developed a “microvascular stamp” that lays out a blueprint for new blood vessels and spurs their growth in predetermined pattern. The research team included Rashid Bashir, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; graduate student Vincent Chan; K. Jimmy Hsia, a professor of mechanical science and engineering; graduate student Casey Dyck; and Hyunjoon Kong, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; and postdoctoral researcher Jae Hyun Jeong and graduate student Chaenyung Cha.read entire article

Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory (CNLM) Request for Proposals The Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory (CNLM), established in a partnership between Abbott and the University of Illinois, requests proposals in a Grand Challenge research competition for interdisciplinary, team-based scientific research on the impact of nutrition on learning and memory in the human brain.read more

Eight Illinois faculty members elected fellows of AAASNews Bureau (Champaign, Dec. 6) -- Eight University of Illinois faculty members have been elected fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, including one affiliate and one faculty member from the Institute for Genomic Biology: Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Rashid Bashir, Debasish Dutta, K. Jimmy Hsia, Keith W. Kelley, Wilfred van der Donk, M. Christina White and James Whitfield.read entire article

Sixth Annual Young Investigators Genome Technology (Dec. 2) -- Jian Ma, CDMC faculty, was one of 25 individuals chosen by Genome Technology magazine as a 2011 Young Investigator, as nominated by senior principal investigators in their field. All of the researchers profiled are no more than five years into their first faculty appointment, working in areas as diverse as single-cell genomics, the role of microRNA in disease, and the uncovering of new biomarkers. Ma’s profile, Investigating Genomic Alterations, can be found on genomeweb.com.read entire article (free registration required)

Cellular ResearchNature (London, Dec. 1) -- Many researchers venturing into single-cell analysis will be on their own, so techniques will have to become more auto­mated, integrated and kit-like, says Jonathan Sweedler, a chemist at Illinois.read entire article (PDF, see Page 137)

Last Universal Common AncestorThe Daily Mail (London, Nov. 24) -- The ocean was turned into a global mega-organism 3 billion years ago before giving birth to the ancestors of all living things today, new research has revealed. Scientists are currently attempting to confirm the last universal common ancestor – the life form that gave rise to all others. This single organism has been called LUCA and is now traceable in all domains of life including plants, animals and fungi. Scientists believe that it was about 2.9 billion years ago when LUCA split into the three domains of life – bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. But little is known about what happened before the split. Research into this area is being carried out by U. of I. bioinformatics professor Gustavo Caetano-Anolles.read entire articleAlso:Phys Org.com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Nov. 28)The Hindustan Times (New Delhi, Nov. 26)

Insect GenomePCT Magazine (Richfield, Ohio, Nov. 21) -- Scientists are gearing up to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insects and other arthropods, and what they uncover could change how the industry controls structural pests. The five-year, $15 million international effort, known as the i5k Initiative, has been called the Manhattan Project of entomology. “The genome is the source of a tremendous amount of information about an organism,” says Gene Robinson, a professor of entomology at Illinois. Data will help researchers better understand how to sustain organisms like honey bees and target vulnerabilities in pests.read entire article

Converting Carbon DioxideScience (Washington, D.C., Nov. 18) -- Researchers led by U. of I. chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Paul Kenis and Richard Masel, of Dioxide Materials in Champaign, reported online in Science Sept. 29 that they’ve come up with a less energy-intensive way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide.read entire articleEditor’s note: Kenis and Masel’s work is cited in the blue box.

GeneticsGenome Technology (New York City, October) -- U. of I. researchers have taken an unusual approach to studying the role of microRNAs in a deadly brain cancer. Animal sciences professor Sandra Rodriguez-Zas and her group developed a bioinformatics pipeline that allows them to look at all miRNAs, remove those that are not associated with the disease, and still look at multiple miRNAs to establish which ones are related to cancer survival. She and Kristin Delfino, a doctoral candidate at Urbana, are now extending this approach to ovarian cancer survival.read entire articleEditor’s note: This site requires free registration after the first visit.